Desperation

This, the final episode of 'Miami Vice' if you are watching the series
in DVD order, opens with a crack addict pleading with her dealer to be
given more drugs and more time to pay for them. Her young daughter
hears the dealer threatening her mother and phones her godmother in New
York she is Tubb's ex-girlfriend Valerie. She calls Tubbs and he goes
round and chases off the dealer; the woman refuses to say who it was
though. She just begs Valerie for some money; the dealer demands more
though and says he will take the daughter as payment. The next day the
woman is dead and the girls is missing; when she turns up she tells
Valerie that she was raped by the dealer. She and Tubbs then set out
searching for him. Meanwhile Switek is dealing with his own addiction
and his visits to Gamblers Anonymous don't seem to be helping him; this
leads him into a dangerous position where he is open to blackmail.

This is a pretty solid episode although it is clear that it is out of
the intended order as the consequences of Switek's gambling addiction
and subsequent debts feature in a previous episode; this makes his
subplot a bit of a distraction from the main story. The main plot is
pretty dark by the standards of the day; which serves to make it one of
the most gripping of the final series. It was nice to see Valerie
return although it did mean that Crockett took a backseat which was a
shame. I won't spoil the ending but will say that it contained a good
twist that really took me by surprise!